Related papers: Dynamic Grasping with a "Soft" Drone: From Theory …

Intelligent manipulation benefits from the capacity to flexibly control an end-effector with high degrees of freedom (DoF) and dynamically react to the environment. However, due to the challenges of collecting effective training data and…

There is a growing need for vertical take-off and landing vehicles, including drones, which are safe to use and can adapt to collisions. The risks of damage by collision, to humans, obstacles in the environment, and drones themselves, are…

Soft robots are intrinsically capable of adapting to different environments by changing their shape in response to interaction forces with the environment. However, sensing and feedback are still required for higher level decisions and…

Grasping object,whether they are flat, round, or narrow and whether they have regular or irregular shapes,introduces difficulties in determining the ideal grasping posture, even for the most state-of-the-art grippers. In this article, we…

The growing deployment of drones in a myriad of applications relies on seamless and reliable wireless connectivity for safe control and operation of drones. Cellular technology is a key enabler for providing essential wireless services to…

Dynamic control of a soft-body robot to deliver complex behaviors with low-dimensional actuation inputs is challenging. In this paper, we present a computational approach to automatically generate versatile, underactuated control policies…

Current motion capture (MoCap) systems generally require markers and multiple calibrated cameras, which can be used only in constrained environments. In this work we introduce a drone-based system for 3D human MoCap. The system only needs…

Tactile perception is an essential ability of intelligent robots in interaction with their surrounding environments. This perception as an intermediate level acts between sensation and action and has to be defined properly to generate…

Manipulation in cluttered environments like homes requires stable grasps, precise placement and robustness against external contact. We present the Soft-Bubble gripper system with a highly compliant gripping surface and dense-geometry…

Grasping objects whose physical properties are unknown is still a great challenge in robotics. Most solutions rely entirely on visual data to plan the best grasping strategy. However, to match human abilities and be able to reliably pick…

Although wheeled robots have been predominant for planetary exploration, their geometry limits their capabilities when traveling over steep slopes, through rocky terrains, and in microgravity. Legged robots equipped with grippers are a…

Operating robots precisely and at high speeds has been a long-standing goal of robotics research. Balancing these competing demands is key to enabling the seamless collaboration of robots and humans and increasing task performance. However,…

Robot learning is often simplified to planar manipulation due to its data consumption. Then, a common approach is to use a fully-convolutional neural network to estimate the reward of grasp primitives. In this work, we extend this approach…

Perching on {the surface} of moving objects, like vehicles, could extend the flight {time} and range of quadrotors. Suction cups are usually adopted for {surface attachment} due to their durability and large adhesive force. To seal on {a…

Most human-robot interfaces, such as joysticks and keyboards, require training and constant cognitive effort and provide a limited degree of awareness of the robots state and its environment. Embodied interactions, instead of interfaces,…

In this paper, we propose a single-actuator gripper that can lift thin objects lying on a flat surface, in addition to the ability as a standard parallel gripper. The key is a crawler on the fingertip, which is underactuated together with…

The physical interaction of aerial robots with their environment has countless potential applications and is an emerging area with many open challenges. Fully-actuated multirotors have been introduced to tackle some of these challenges.…

Due to dynamic variations such as changing payload, aerodynamic disturbances, and varying platforms, a robust solution for quadrotor trajectory tracking remains challenging. To address these challenges, we present a deep reinforcement…

This paper presents QuadSoft, a novel fully actuated quadrotor equipped with continuous-curvature, tendon-driven soft robotic arms. The design combines a semi-rigid central frame with flexible arms, enabling controlled structural…

Robotic grasping under uncertainty remains a fundamental challenge due to its uncertain and contact-rich nature. Traditional rigid robotic hands, with limited degrees of freedom and compliance, rely on complex model-based and heavy feedback…